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FirstMark Capital

I have recently spent a lot of time researching the companies and products in the Internet of Things (IoT) space and decided to list all of these out into a post to make it easy to see who is doing what. It’s a work in progress, it’s not complete (will never be) so please be patient as I add additional resources and information. The original inspiration for this came from a Techcrunch infographic by Matt Turck managing director of FirstMark Capitalhttp://mattturck.com/2013/07/16/making-sense-of-the-internet-of-things/ but it was lacking URLs or any useful descriptions or photos about the companies. It has since been supplemented by about 100 other companies that I have found while looking at the landscape. If you have an interesting product or company that should be on the list please tweet me @mikenicholls88 or contact me here and I will include your product or service in the list

Platforms

Hardware Platforms

Arguably the device that launched a 1000 startups. Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping computing platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. Available in numerous different sizes shapes and even flexible or fabric based computing devices and hundreds of software programs called Sketches allows you to experiment with controlling devices and chips by downloading the sketch to your Arduino which is hooked up to your sensor, device, robot, UAV or other device to be controlled.

Arduino-logo

Arduino-models

Arduino Models 2

Intel Galileo

Raspberry-Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. We want to see it being used by kids all over the world to learn programming.The idea behind a tiny and cheap computer for kids came in 2006, when Eben Upton, Rob Mullins, Jack Lang and Alan Mycroft, based at the University of Cambridge’s Computer Laboratory, became concerned about the year-on-year decline in the numbers and skills levels of the A Level students applying to read Computer Science. Rasberry Pi cost between $25-35

RasberryPi

RaspiModelB

Gadgeteer

This is Microsoft’s attempt at the smart devices and internet of things space. Microsoft .NET Gadgeteer is an open-source toolkit for building small electronic devices using the .NET Micro Framework and Visual Studio (including Express editions). Gadgeteer combines the advantages of object-oriented programming, solderless assembly of electronics with a kit of peripherals, and support for quick form-factor construction using computer-aided design.

Gadgeteer modules – Credit Microsoft

Gadgeteer – Rover 5 Tank Chassis – Credit – Microsoft

Beaglebone

BeagleBone Black is a $45 MSRP community-supported development platform for developers and hobbyists. Boot Linux in under 10 seconds and get started on development in less than 5 minutes with just a single USB cable.

Beaglebone – Credit Beaglebone.org

Cubieboard

Cubieboard

Electric Imp

The imp is a powerful, yet tiny, hardware module that runs the imp OS. Our operating system provides the foundation to build advanced features and services for your devices, and it works with the imp Cloud to provide seamless and secure connectivity of your devices to software, third party services and external servers.

Electric Imp

Hardware Variations and Accessories

Earthmake

Seeeduino Film

Seeeduino Film is a Arduino chipset mounted on a Flexible circuit, it is only a few mm thick and around 20mm wide by 70mm long, having used these ourselves I can tell you it is tiny and so light and very flexible, chips notwithstanding.

Software Platforms and Frameworks

NodeJS

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome’s JavaScript runtime for easily building fast, scalable network applications. Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking I/O model that makes it lightweight and efficient, perfect for data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices.

IFTTT.com

IFTTT is a service that lets you create powerful connections with one simple statement: If this then that. Each statement is called a recipe. Channels are the building blocks of an IFTTT statement. The various channels could be Facebook, Evernote, Email and Weather; Youtube, Dropbox, or Linkedin. For example a sample recipe for IFTTT will be : IF [New Favourite Video On Youtube] THEN [Share On Facebook] You can also create your own recipes by registering on the IFTTT website.

Buglabs

Buglabs developed Swarm which is a cloud-based “Internet of Things” development platform that let’s you easily add new services to your product. Whether it’s a simple sensor device or a complex industrial system, Swarm provides everything necessary to get valuable new online product services up and running quickly.

Nimbits

Spark Core

A tiny Wi-Fi development board that makes it easy to create internet-connected hardware. The Core is all you need to get started; power it over USB and in minutes you’ll be controlling LEDs, switches and motors and collecting data from sensors over the internet!

Xively

Xively provides the platform, tools, services and partners that simplify and accelerate the creation of compelling connected offerings. With Xively, you’re free to focus on innovation instead of infrastructure.

Supermechanical

Twine helps you detect small problems before they become big problems. Get notified of changes in temperature, vibration, orientation and more, even when you’re not home. Get an alert when your pipes freeze, the AC breaks, or the garage door is left open. An external sensor port lets you add features later, such as a moisture sensor, magnetic switch, or breakout board.

Cloud Shield

Stack Cloud Shield on your Arduino, connect it to Twine, and get email, texting, calling, and more in a jiffy. With Cloud Shield, you can add the ability to trigger any Twine output from your Arduino sketch with three lines of code, so you can focus on your idea and not debugging networking code. It has two capacitive pads for easy input with your fingers or conductive objects, and an LED to let you know when it’s been triggered.

Moisture Sensor

Add a moisture sensor to your Twine, and you’ll be able to detect the presence of water even when you’re not at home. You can get a text message or email as soon as your basement floods or your water heater leaks, and prevent costly damage to your home.

Breakout Board

Connect the Twine breakout board to your Twine’s external sensor port and instantly get the ability to measure anything with your own digital input (analog coming soon). Each breakout board has a unique ID so your sensor’s name and settings are remembered for the next time you plug it in. It has holes for mounting and easy-to-use terminals for signal, 3.3V power and ground.

Magnetic Switch

Did you leave a window open? Did someone just open the door? Detect things moving even when you’re not at home. Add a magnetic switch to your Twine, and you can get a text message or email when a door is open or when the mail has been delivered. Have peace of mind when you’re away from home.

External Temperature Sensor

Is your freezer on the fritz? Add an external temperature sensor to your Twine to monitor the temperature in your refrigerator, freezer, or anywhere else you don’t want to stick your Twine due to a hostile environment or a spotty wireless connection.

Big Data

Apache Spark

Apache Spark is an open source cluster computing system that aims to make data analytics fast — both fast to run and fast to write. Spark was initially developed for two applications where placing data in memory helps: iterative algorithms, which are common in machine learning, and interactive data mining. In both cases, Spark can run up to 100x faster than Hadoop MapReduce.

Tableau Software

If you start to gather sensor data, pretty soon it gets massive. Imagine keeping someones heart rate, temperature, blood pressure, location, time and any events. Just for one person that is a full time stream, x1,000,000 and it gets massive, trying to use that data to produce meaningful information is challenging. Tableau Server is a business intelligence application that provides browser-based analytics anyone can use. It’s a rapid-fire alternative to the slow pace of traditional business intelligence software.

Tableau Software

Ginger.io

Anapsis is a research platform and marketplace for scientific and statistical computing BigEvidence is developing software that improves the way medical providers evaluate and apply medical evidence CancerIQ is harnessing big data to accelerate personalized cancer care FlatIron Health is a business and clinical intelligence platform for cancer care providers Huneo has a health data infrastructure that forms a comprehensive system to monitor human health and provide access to real-time and historical data collected from patients

Health

Fitness

Edisse

Edisse is a company I met whilst mentoring at Incubate.org.au the student incubator at Sydney University. They have prototyped a wearable sensor for real time tracking, fall detection and alerting. Basically it combines a GPS, mobile data, sms and an accelerometer to detect unusual movements ie a fall and then report this to an 3rd party such as the adult children or other carer. The idea is that anywhere in the world a carer can get an alert that their loved one has fallen over and exactly where it has happened.

Ninjablocks

Australian home control and automation platform. The free Ninja Blocks platform simplifies the process of building web & mobile apps that talk to hardware. Each Ninjablock has both a beaglebone and a Arduino running the system. You can also buy motion sensors, temperature and humidity, window and door contact sensors and also program other sensors into the platform.

Moores Cloud

LED Smart lighting system by @mpesce and @kcarruthers. The first product they have produced is initially positioned as the worlds smartest Christmas lights but talking to Kate I can see a big future for programmable LED lighting systems. 50 LED strings are controlled by an embedded computer with Smart Phone apps to drive it. They originally ran a kickstarter which got an amazing $275,000 but fell short of the $750,000 target, however they still managed to get the product built and have sold all bar a few of the first batch., the last few are available here http://store.moorescloud.com/

Security

Y-cam

Security solution including a range of indoor and outdoor semi pro and professional Wireless Security cameras, Cloud Monitoring Software http://www.homemonitor.me/ and a Baby monitor http://www.babyping.com/. The cameras support up to 1080HD and some are available with Wireless, Ethernet with power over Ethernet.